History-writing and Education in Late Antique and Early Medieval Iberia

Abstract

This chapter begins with an examination of the educational features of Paulus Orosius’s Historiae adversus paganos. Orosius was a Christian presbyter from the Iberian Peninsula writing in the early fifth century, predominantly in North Africa. At the request of Augustine, he composed an apologetic Christian history in seven books. The enormous impact of Orosius’s work on the historiography of later centuries is of direct relevance to understanding the development of history-writing in Visigothic Iberia in the sixth and seventh centuries. The Historiae therefore serves as a crucial reference point from which we can chart the later relationship between history and education. The next section examines the influence of Orosius’s work and that of other late antique historians and theologians in late sixth- and seventh-century Iberia. Finally, this chapter explores the intersection of history and education in texts that were produced in Visigothic Spain. Monastic rules and instructional manuals for the clergy are particularly useful here because they often promote history as a key element of pedagogic practice. It is also likely that certain technical and stylistic elements of historical writings were deployed with educational objectives in mind. Here we focus on the works of Isidore of Seville, usually considered as the kingdom’s most important bishop in the early seventh century.